Aquarian: Four of Pentacles

[Queen of Disks]

This Four of Pentacles is my favorite one of all of my decks. This young man does not cling to the pentacles like the man in the RWS Four of Pentacles does. Instead, three of the four pentacles are seemingly stuck to this young man's clothes. To me, money and material goods are seemingly a big part of him and he is using them to shield himself from the rest of the world.

The fourth pentacle is literaly being projected out of this young man's head. It's as if the desire for wealth and possesions is all he can think about. He doesn't seem to notice anything else that is going on (let alone that pentacles are stuck to him.)

Thoughts?

[karenquilter]

I love your interpretation! At first, I thought that he might be juggling the pentacles, like the two of pentacles, only doubled. But I like the way you read it.

Maybe the pentacle on his hat is his way of identifying with a group, like a baseball cap.

His face has a look of concentration.

[Queen of Disks]

I had the thought later that perhaps this young man might also worrying about money and how to pay the bills-which leads to the part about getting more money.

Either way, he does not look happy.

[karenquilter]

There aren't very many happy faces in the deck. Mostly they look thoughtful.

The LWB says "Denotes one possessive of material things, impressed with the power such possession wields. May also mean inheritance, gift, legacy."

His other deck has the same arrangement of discs, except that the viewer is zoomed out a little, & the uppermost pentacle floats above the man's head. He's smiling in this one, seated on a throne, with a crown. This LWB says "Possessions, legacy, inheritance, fortune. Reverse--Suspense, delay, opposition."

I've read elsewhere that this card is "the miser card," someone who is stuck because he is holding too tightly to what he has, so closes himself off to growth. Which comes back to your interpretation that he's hiding behind his wealth & has money on his mind. The imagery definitely works.

[irongoddess]

Instead of not noticing his bulky pentacle decorations, the man in this card might be accepting their weight as something he wants or needs, believing that it's better to have these huge coins weighing him down than to set them aside.

karenquilter said:
Maybe the pentacle on his hat is his way of identifying with a group, like a baseball cap.

I love this idea -- "I am a fan of money!"

I imagine someone with all those Pentacles on his person would not be at all light on his feet...

[karenquilter]

Wealth is such a burden...

[MariposAzl]

I can't help but notice that the pent in the middle is covering his heart chakra which to me emphasises the meaning of the pent above his head at the crown. It's all he thinks and cares about. It could also translate to how he realates to others, in the material sense as opposed to and emotional, compassionate way. The two pents at the bottom where his hands might be make me think of the saying "everything he touches turns to gold" but in this case may not only be because he's very good at creating material abundance, but because of an obsession with creating a material world. Makes me think he's rather uninspired in the spiritual sense, too busy focusing on material gains. He even looks constricted or confined by it. Kind of like a famous person who's got to be worried about their looks and their material possesions in order to keep a certain image can become imprisoned by that need.

[Umbrae]

Another card where I think that Palladini's charcoal portraiture expresses the card more than the accouterments.

The face is passive – or is it?

He/she does not appear to be weighed down.